UMass Amherst Biologist Publishes Research on Bee Health
Lynn S. Adler, professor of biology, in collaboration with other American scientists, has been researching factors driving pollinator decline, including pathogens and pesticides, for several years. The Royal Society Open Science (a UK publication) has recently published two noteworthy studies:
• Pollen from multiple sunflower cultivars and species reduces a common bumblebee gut pathogen (George LoCascio, former UMass Master’s student and lead author). This study shows that many different kinds of sunflower pollen, and even goldenrod pollen, all dramatically reduce a bumble bee pathogen.
• Landscape predictors of pathogen prevelence and range contractions in US bumblebees (Scott McArt, lead author). The EU will ban the use of chlorothalonil, the most-used pesticide in the UK, in part due to this study that found a relationship between chlorothalonil use and bumble bee health/decline.
